Doubt and faith
Doubt and faith
When pressed between hard times and harsh realities, the thought of faith and prayer arises. This can be seen in medical emergencies, before a tough exam, or when rooting for a favorite sports team. Most of the time prayer is nothing more than a nonverbal expression of hope that one can make while sighing. This use of prayer dilutes the power of faith just as how certain words have lost their true meaning, or power, through misuse, ignorance, or triteness. When prayer is more than superstition but rather hope and reason, the thought of amelioration becomes plausible. Of course being human, no one can have absolute faith all the time and when times get harder, it is only natural for prayer to become more prevalent. What happens when prayers come true? Should one accept a gift from God with open arms or be weary. Is being weary a sign of a lack of faith in prayer and inevitably God? Is it wrong not to accept something that one has prayed for since it seems like prayers go unanswered for so many people. Prayer has been a vehicle for hope in the power of faith and God but without reason and doubt, the power prayer is unanalyzed and not interpreted thus underappreciated and often unaware.
Doubt and Prayer
By Alfred Tennyson
THO’ Sin too oft, when smitten by Thy rod,
Rail at ‘Blind Fate’ with many a vain ‘Alas”
From sin thro’ sorrow into Thee we pass
By that same path our true forefathers trod;
And let not Reason fail me, nor the sod
Draw from my death Thy living flower and grass,
Before I learn that Love, which is, and was
My Father, and my Brother, and my God!
Steel me with patience! soften me with grief!
Let blow the trumpet strongly while I pray,
Till this embattled wall of unbelief
My prison, not my fortress, fall away!
Then, if Thou willest, let my day be brief,
So Thou wilt strike Thy glory thro’ the day.
Love,
Jonathan
